


Mysteries and Memories

by ShadowoftheLamp



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Character Bonding, Gen, M/M, manga universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowoftheLamp/pseuds/ShadowoftheLamp
Summary: Other Yugi is curious about his past, and Ryou is interested in both the history of the Items and the fact that he's a ghost. They decide to talk.





	Mysteries and Memories

**Author's Note:**

> The shipping is light, it's mostly just bouncing these two off each other, but there's like... no content I've found that's them interacting? Guess I have to do it myself. Set in the manga timeline, shortly after the Black Clown incident with Otagi but before Battle City. I tagged it just so people can find this who like the ship, which as far as I can tell is about... me.

“Hello?”

Ryou straightened up as he heard a voice.

“Yugi?”

“It’s… me.”

“Oh, other Yugi then.” Ryou hurried over to unlock the door. “So you wanted to take my offer?”

When he was flustered and glancing away, it was remarkable how little you one could tell him and Yugi apart. They shared a body, of course, but usually Ryou had seen him in duels- confident, ramrod straight, with a barking voice and a confident smirk. Now, he didn’t seem to know what to do. Other than a slight correction of the slouch Yugi always had (really, didn’t he hate being seen as short, why would he slouch, Ryou wondered) the only difference was the way his bangs stuck up like static electricity and how the Puzzle hummed like static from a TV.

“Yes, I… if there’s anything you can do to help, it would be appreciated.”

“Come on in.” Ryou nudged the house slippers towards him with his toe. “I left the Ring in my closet- he didn’t like you being here, but as long as you don’t rob me blind, he’ll just have to deal.”

“I would never-!”

Ryou waved a hand. “Joking, joking. I made some tea so we can talk.” Other Yugi just blinked at that.

“...Okay.” He untied his shoes, then slid the slippers on, plodding into Ryou’s apartment. “It’s kind of a mess in here.”

“I’d say it usually isn’t like this, but it is. It’s livable.” Ryou shrugged. “He doesn’t exactly care about keeping tidy, but as long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble, I’ll let a few dirty dishes slide. Didn’t he help Yugi the other day, when I woke up at the Black Clown?”

“The experience is… fuzzy, but he did.” Other Yugi confirmed.

“See? He’s getting better.” Ryou poured the tea into two glasses. “Sugar?”

“I’ll have one.” Other Yugi sat down, and Ryou plopped a little cube into his drink, before adding two to his own, stirring it around.

“So. You want answers.”

“The Spirit of the Ring seems to have some and I… we don’t exactly get along.” He said slowly.

“I’ve noticed.” Ryou said dryly. “But that puts us on the same playing field- I keep wearing the Ring both because he’s starting to be a bit less of an ass after I helped beat him in the Monster World game, and because I want answers. About who you two are, where the Items came from, anything either of you can give me. If I help you find out who and what you are, then I get what I want.” He leaned forward across the table. “So. Is there anything you remember? Anything at all?”

“I thought I was Yugi for… six months, was it? There was always an itching feeling in the back of my neck that something was off, but he called me out in moments of stress, so all I wanted to do was solve the problem. I had access to his memories, and I assumed any confusion was just due to the fact that I was close to being hurt or something was hurting my friends.” He fiddled with the chain of the Puzzle, links clicking against each other.

“I’m pretty sure mine knew he was different- he seemed to know you existed, anyways.” Ryou said. “He was trying to impress me, in some weird way. I would have preferred chocolates instead of people in comas, but eh. Live and learn.” Ryou cleared his throat.

“So, he had some idea that he was a separate consciousness, a different soul. He still hasn’t given me a name to call him, though, so although he pretends he’s just holding it back, he doesn’t remember everything either.” He took a sip of his tea. “Let’s lay out what we know. The Items are from Egypt. He’s said he was a robber, stealing valuables like them, and that you were… some kind of protector of them, maybe?”

“That would make sense, but Shadi seems to have that part covered.” He Other Yugi stirred the cubes of sugar, watching them dissolve as heat radiated from the tea. “Sometimes, when the light hit my hands wrong, Yugi’s bracelets and pale skin looked off, like I was wearing a costume. I’m fairly certain I had dark skin.”

Ryou pulled out a small notepad and scribbled that down. “Is there anything else?”

He drummed the nail of his index finger against the table in a sharp staccato. “If there is anything, it’s as if it disappears as soon as I’m aware of it. My soul room is a giant maze, and if I ever find anything, it’s locked away the next time I turn around. It’s frustrating, to say the least.”

“I can imagine.” Ryou said, scratching his pen against the paper. It was something, at least- he’d never seen any soul rooms besides his own. Were they all different or was that something to do with being inside of an Item? Goodness knew that he’d never gotten past the black hole that was the Ring Spirit’s front door, and he’d lost more than a few pieces of soul room that he’d prodded at it with trying. “Your room’s a maze- have you ever tried changing it?”

He nodded. “A few times, but it’s stubborn. I’m in a Puzzle, after all, and it doesn’t like trying to change the rules. What little I can do is always set back once Yugi and I switch, and it’s never more than the entrance.”

“All right, I’m going to try something.” Ryou stood up, walking over to his room and nudging a tall basket full of laundry with his hip on the way. Other Yugi sipped at his tea, looking around the apartment.

Ryou had a video game system set up, as well as notebooks open everywhere. From what he could see, they all had either writings or drawings, probably of Monster World campaigns. He still had the transparent glass cube that had all of them together in it, with Other Yugi holding up a die.

Huh. Either Ryou had fought to keep it or the Ring spirit didn’t care to throw it away. Either one was probably a good sign.

“Found it!” Ryou came out waving a small device that looked sort of like a remote control. It had some colors on the top, set up like piano keys.

“What’s that?”

“An EMF detector. Really, this is more for curiosity’s sake than anything- it helps detect electromagnetic field radiation.”

He just stared blankly at him.

“You can use it to sense a lot of stuff, but right now, it’s useful because it can sense ghosts. I’m just curious how strongly it will detect you, since you’re technically a ghost possessing Yugi right now. The Ring makes it go off even when I’m not wearing it.”

“Huh.” He tilted his head as Ryou approached, and he heard a crackling noise.

“Yep, it’s going to yellow, it can definitely- oh.” He was right in front of Other Yugi now, and the needle strained at red, making an angry buzzing noise. “Huh. I guess it’s stronger when it’s an active possession.”

“I’m not _possessing-_ ”

“I know, I know, you both consented and all that. Still, it was at the edge of pink with the Ring, it’s definitely deep in the red with you. I’ve never tried it when the Ring was on. Maybe this thing isn’t used to active shadow magic?” Ryou hit the side of it, and it started smoking. “Oh. Guess so.” He started walking backwards, and nearly tripped over a chunk of solid foam. Other Yugi jumped up, moving to grab him, when Ryou backed up. “I’m fine! I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I do really need to clean up in here one of these days…” He blew up at his bangs, to get them out of his eyes, turning to walk a few steps and then tossing the EMF meter onto his bed. “Is Yugi watching? I usually don’t, the Ring spirit gets prickly sometimes if I get in on his time.”

“Not today, but usually.” Other Yugi said. “He said he’d like me to have my space about this.”

“Oh. Well, that was nice of him.” Ryou looked around. “I don’t exactly have much else to offer… want to play a round of duel monsters? No death games or anything, but I didn’t get to play at all during Duelist Kingdom.”

Other Yugi felt around in his pockets. “Let me- ah!” He pulled out his deck. “Yugi usually keeps it in his jacket.”

“Dork.” Ryou said, as if he wasn’t grinning and two feet away from a half-built scale model of a medieval castle.

As it turned out, Ryou was just as ruthless in gaming as the Ring Spirit- if his reckless bravery during the Monster World incident hadn’t convinced Other Yugi of it, this would have done it. He played innocent at first, but used Dark Necrofear to turn his Dark Magician against him. That caused another twinge in his chest, but he wasn’t quite sure why.

“And with dark magic burning, I take out the rest of your life points.” He grinned, shifting the Dark Magician card with the pad of his thumb.

“That was well-played.”

“Well, I got lucky- you had a bad hand at the end there. But yeah, I did pretty well.” He beamed, clearly proud. “Did you get a time limit?”

He glanced at his watch. “Yugi said just be back at the shop by dinner.”

“You should probably go, then.” Ryou handed back the Dark Magician and started collecting his cards.

“I noticed something. When you took the Dark Magician, I… I felt something. I think there’s something with that card.”

Ryou nodded. “I’ll add it to my notes. Just tell me if you come up with anything.” He sighed. “He has a card like that too. Whatever I know, he’ll know, but I don’t think there’s anything you told me that he’d really be able to get much use out of.”

“I appreciate your help anyhow.” He bowed his head, and Ryou reciprocated. “Besides, it was… nice, to not have to deal with life-or-death situations.”

“Don’t I know the feeling. Tell Yugi that either of you are welcome, as long as you call first.” Ryou said, sliding his deck back into its case. 

He smiled, setting his own deck back into place. “I’ll be sure to pass it along.”

Ryou rubbed the back of his neck. “And… it was kind of nice, hanging out. After everything with people falling into comas, I kind of backed down on casual friends. This wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

Other Yugi laughed at that. “I’ll take ‘not a disaster’. We’ll see you at school.”

Ryou smiled, and it was a little crooked but a lot charming. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he saw how girls flocked to him. He had a kind of effortless charm that he buried under a quick dark wit and a tendency to get lost in his own head, if the times he'd showed up late for class due to 'campaign planning' was any indication. “See you.”

Other Yugi was caught up in thought enough that he almost forgot his sneakers at the door and left in the slippers, which made Ryou laugh.

He liked the sound.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if the 'pharaoh' thing was mentioned in manga canon before this point, but skimming over the duelist kingdom stuff seems to imply it wasn't, just that the Items were kind of evil? It's been a bit since I read it. Any feedback/comments are super appreciated!


End file.
